Getting Your Manuscript Ready for Ebook Publication

You have written your book, had it professionally edited, and are ready to have it converted into an ebook.
Have you included the additional material that a finished manuscript has?

First, following the title and author name, do you have a copyright line? And are you putting the copyright holder in your own name or the name of a corporation? (This question is something for which you may want to consult an attorney.)

Second, what about a disclaimer for fiction and nonfiction books? For my fiction I use the standard one that starts “This novel is a work of fiction …” But I am NOT an attorney. This is another question for which you may want to consult an attorney. Also, decide whether you want this before or after the copyright line.

Third, due to online book buying, I think it is important to put a short author bio upfront, especially for a nonfiction book. Amazon’s LOOK INSIDE feature shows a certain percentage (based on the length of your book) of the beginning of your book. You want to encourage people’s confidence in your ability to write on the specific nonfiction topic.

Fourth, a table of contents. And, yes, I have personally had communication from Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) stating that a table of contents is encouraged even for a fiction book.

It is a good idea to consider how detailed you want the table of contents to be. A very detailed table of contents with numerous section titles may take up many pages of LOOK INSIDE. If your book is short, this may not leave you very many pages with which to demonstrate the value of the information in the book.

(Now you may argue that a detailed table of contents could encourage book purchases. While it might, the titles of sections do not demonstrate your ability to deliver the information of those titles.)

Fifth, in my personal opinion, while a dedication page or very short acknowledgment page can be at the front of an ebook, long acknowledgments should go at the end of the book. Again, this is because you do not want to use up your LOOK INSIDE pages with information that is unlikely to motivate people to buy your ebook.

What should be at the end of your ebook manuscript:

Put a call to action at the end of the ebook. This can include the Amazon links to other books you have written, links to your social media accounts, and definitely links to your websites and blogs.

While people will not be able to click on the links from a Kindle reader, for example, they will be able to click on the links from a Kindle Fire. And to make it easy for readers to copy your links into their browsers, use shortened URLs rather than very long links.

For example, this is a shortened URL for my Kindle ebook TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF AMAZON — http://amzn.to/RXnpfY

(Note that the URL shortener bit.ly automatically changes an Amazon URL to a shortened URL that has an abbreviation of the word Amazon in the URL. This encourages people to trust the shortened URL.)

In conclusion, you have probably shed blood, sweat and tears to write your book. Before you have it converted into an ebook, make sure that you have included the additional information recommended for a published book.

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

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Reader Interactions

Comments

I love the call to action at the end of a book. I’ve heard other authors say you can’t follow links in a Kindle, but that hasn’t been my experience. I’ve had a Kindle 3 Keyboard and now a Kindle Touch, and I’ve always been able to follow links as long as I had WiFi coverage (whether the pages will load with Kindle’s primitive browser is another question!). Also, you can open your Kindle books on your computer’s Kindle app or on a tablet, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of Kindle “devices” had full connectivity.

But I’ve been thinking that along with an easily-typable link, for Kindle readers without WiFi or 3G, it might not be a bad idea to include a QR code on the page that leads to the same destination as the link. With my smartphone, I can capture a QR code and either open the page on my phone or email the link to someone (like myself so I can read it on my computer). Shouldn’t hurt, right?

Jordan — You make some very important points. I tend to think of reading on a regular Kindle reader, because that’s what I use, and with that reader I can’t click on links. But of course for people reading on a PC with a Kindle app, for example, they can click on the links.

Very interesting idea about using a QR code — I’ll have to give this some thought.